The election is pitting Karzai’s former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, 53, and ex-finance minister Ashraf Ghani. The first official preliminary results will be announced July 2, and then will be subject to another three weeks of verification and investigation by a separate body.

Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah poses for photos before he casts his vote as his running mate, Mahoammad Khan, looks on at a polling station in Kabul on Saturday.Massoud Hossaini / AP

Twenty-one people died, mostly civilians, while another 100 civilians and security personnel were injured, Salangi said. At least 19 Taliban fighters were also killed.

In a gruesome act, 11 voters in the western province of Herat had their fingers cut off by the Taliban, a senior police source told NBC News. They were on their way home when a group of six Taliban rebels on motorbikes sliced their inked fingers, the source said.

The number of dead and injured was lower than during the first round of elections on April 5. Neither Abdullah nor Ghani had won the 50 percent majority needed to grab the presidency outright.

Afghans said Saturday that they were motivated to vote again, particularly with the new presidency on the line.

Ghulam Rasoul, 48, who had come to a polling station with five other family members said that only one member of the family voted in the first round of elections. This time, all of them, including his wife, two daughters and son-in-law, were voting.

“Under the Taliban, we even have not seen the picture of the guy who was ruling us, but now we have the power to choose our president,” Rasoul said. “It is a great day and I feel empowered.”

In a statement, the White House congratulated Afghan voters for their “commitment to the democratic process.”

The American ambassador to Afghanistan, James Cunningham, added that the Afghan people have “once again shown their commitment to a peaceful and democratic future for Afghanistan.”